California C-27 landscape contractor license: who needs it, what it costs, and where mowing fits

The C-27 is the license for installing landscapes. Keeping them mowed mostly sits outside it, as California's Contractors State License Board (CSLB) says in plain terms on its consumer fact sheet. The dollar line that decides it moved in 2025. Everything below comes from CSLB's pages and one Department of Pesticide Regulation packet, read October 1, 2026, and the fees are the ones on those pages that day.

When you need a license

CSLB says a license is required when a project needs a building permit, uses any additional workers, or has a labor and materials total of $1,000 or more. A larger job can't be broken into pieces under $1,000 to dodge the rule. The unlicensed exemption also ends if you advertise as licensed.

The figure was $500 until Assembly Bill 2622 took effect on January 1, 2025. CSLB's industry bulletin adds that unlicensed people may now advertise work up to $1,000 if the ad says they aren't licensed, and that hiring even one worker makes a license necessary below $1,000. CSLB's own pages still disagree on the number: its 2025 landscaper fact sheet says $1,000, while an older fact sheet still on the site says $500. Go with the bulletin and the licensing page.

Contracting without a license is usually a misdemeanor on a first offense, with up to six months in jail or a $500 fine, plus an administrative fine of $200 to $15,000.

What C-27 covers

CSLB's classification page defines a landscape contractor as someone who constructs, maintains, repairs or installs landscape systems for gardens and grounds, and who grades land for that work. The fact sheet lists what needs a license: irrigation systems, drainage, landscape lighting, plants and sod, retaining walls, patios, walkways, water features, arbors, outdoor kitchens, and tree pruning above 15 feet or tree removal. A C-49 or C-61/D-49 tree contractor can also do the tree work.

Swimming pools and spas need a C-53 pool license, or a subcontract with someone who holds one.

Where a mowing contract sits

CSLB's answer is no, with a catch. Its fact sheet says gardeners who maintain landscaping on a regular paid basis generally don't need a C-27, but a license is required if they install construction-related extras or do repairs of $1,000 or more. On that wording a weekly mow, edge and blow route generally falls outside the license. As an illustration, replacing a failed sprinkler zone for $1,400 is inside it.

A maintenance business that adds paver patios or new beds should price the extra before quoting, because the $1,000 line applies to it. The pages we read don't say how CSLB treats a monthly contract that bundles installs, or whether spreading mulch counts.

The steps and the costs

1. The qualifier needs four full years of journey-level, foreman, supervisor or contractor experience in the class, within the ten years before you apply, verified by people who saw the work. A four-year degree in horticulture, landscape horticulture or landscape architecture is credited at up to three of those years for C-27, and at least one year must be practical.
2. The application costs $450. Don't send bonds or the license fee yet.
3. For fingerprints, the Department of Justice charges $32 and the FBI $17, plus each Live Scan site's own fee.
4. There are two exams at PSI, Law and Business and the C-27 trade test. Each exam allows 3.5 hours. You have 18 months to pass and wait 21 days between retakes. PSI sets the exam fee, which CSLB's pages don't state. The C-27 study guide gives approximate weights: hardscape installation 21%, drainage, irrigation, lighting and planting 21%, planning and estimating 18%, safety 17%.
5. After you pass, CSLB sends a bond and fee letter: a $200 initial fee for a sole owner or $350 for any other business, a $25,000 contractor bond, a completed asbestos open-book exam, and proof of workers' comp or an exemption. An LLC's letter adds an employee/worker bond and LLC liability insurance, with no amounts on the pages we read.

The bond comes from a surety licensed in California, and CSLB's bond page says it protects consumers harmed by defective work and unpaid employees. It was raised to $25,000 on January 1, 2023.

Workers' comp

CSLB says California law requires workers' comp from any employer, even with one employee. For the license, CSLB wants either a certificate of coverage or a signed statement that you have no employees. C-27 is not on CSLB's short list of classes, such as C-61/D-49 tree service, that must carry comp even with no employees. A license qualified by a responsible managing employee can't use the exemption.

Renewal

A license runs two years. Active renewal is $450 for a sole owner and $700 for any other business, rising to $675 and $1,050 if late. CSLB reinstates an expired license retroactively if a complete renewal and fees arrive within 90 days. Inactive status costs less but you can't bid or contract on it.

Spraying is a different license

A C-27 doesn't let you spray. CSLB's classification text never mentions pesticides, and spraying is regulated by the Department of Pesticide Regulation. A maintenance gardener who occasionally treats pests in support of mowing needs a Maintenance Gardener Pest Control Business license, with a qualified person holding a certificate in the landscape maintenance or maintenance gardener category. The packet (revised July 2024) lists a $180 application fee per calendar year (some business names pay $360 up front for two years) and $360 to renew for two years, county registration before work, and proof of financial responsibility. The minimum there is $5,000 per person and $10,000 per occurrence bodily injury and $5,000 property damage, or a bond or deposit. Pest control incidental to new landscape construction is exempt.

We have no California pesticide page yet. Other states are in the pesticide applicator license hub, and what the policy needs is in the pesticide insurance guide.

Insurance on top of the license

The bond is there for your customers, and it does nothing for you. A general liability policy covers a crushed irrigation line or a cracked window, and CSLB's fact sheet tells homeowners to ask contractors for liability and workers' comp certificates before work. The landscaping insurance page covers what installs change about the policy, and the general liability guide the claims a mowing route sees. For other states' triggers, see the landscaping license hub.